Day 5: Mirriam is Back (Corona Impeachment Trial)

After a week of absence because of hypertension, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is back in full battle gear at the Senate, to perform her duty as Senator-Juror to the Impeachment Trial of CJ Corona. Being missed by spectators for her colorful vocabulary, the lady Senator’s comeback was expected to be a blast and indeed she proved that Philippine Senate will be boring without her.

Compared to the boring and full of pit stops trial last week, day 5 became alive and more interesting as Defensor-Santiago fired on prosecution panel who seemed not prepared in coming to the trial. The lady senator scolded lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr (just like a student being reprimanded by a teacher). for his inability to answer questions on how many witnesses and documents the prosecution intends to submit to the court. The senator went ballistic in his ‘lecture’ to the prosecution panel teaching them to be prepared all the time because the court should not be wasting time with things that can be addressed easily thru planning and proper handling of the case.

It was also during this day that the proceedings was cut short, again because of the failure of the prosecution to submit the legal memorandum regarding Article 2 of the impeachment complaint which was asked by the court after it’s adjournment last week. Contrary to the defense panel, which already submitted theirs early on that day, the failure of the prosecution to submit their copy, left the impeachment court with no choice but to suspend the hearing until the next day to wait for their legal memorandum.

It’s really a learning process for all of us. Since we are new to this kind of proceedings it’s understandable not to have perfect system. I like how presiding judge Senator Juan Ponce-Enrile handled the trial and I’m really impressed at how he conduct the whole proceedings. But I would like to say I am very very disappointed with the way the prosecution panel is acting. It’s very disgusting to the point I want to side with the defense. They should address their problems of incompetence and ill-preparedness if they want to successfully convince the judges to vote for conviction. But I would not be surprised if in the end the verdict will be acquittal if they didn’t change the course of their legal strategies.

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“It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.” – Whitney M. Young Jr.